Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 June 1889 — THE JOHNSTOWN DISASTER. [ARTICLE]

THE JOHNSTOWN DISASTER.

The guards at Johnstown have to be very watchful to prevent the dogs disturbing the dead. Over one hundred dogs were driven from the place Monday night and several of them killed. The hastily dug graves there are shallow and the dogs have been uncovering and devouring the dead. A dispatch of Tuesday says: Already this morning four bodies have been blown up in the wreck above the railroad bridge. They are all horribly decomposed, and can not, on account of the offensive odor, be identified. The blasting is still going on and the work seems to be systematized. An open outbreak between the Womans* Society of Pennsylvania and the same society of Western Pennsylvania resulted in a separation of the two societies and separate headquarters have been established. The old fight between these wo caused the disruption. •All the physicians of Johnstown met accidently at the Bedford Street Hospital Friday night. They represented all parts of the stricken city and after discussing the calamity all joined in the conclusion that not a soul less than 10,100 people were lost in the flood. Ou account of the general knowledge of the people possessed by the physicians the estimate is looked upon as reliable. Strike at Johnstown. The workmen employed at Johnstown, Pa., in removing the debris, struck, Thursday, the complaint being that they were not given wholesome or sufficient food. One thousand of the men were paid off and ordered to leave the place. ’Trouble is feared. The militia are on the ground. The complaint of the strikers seems to have been well founded, and a promise of an improvement is given. New menarecoming in on every train. Sixteen bodies were recovered, Thursday.